Any of yall fish from a jet boat or tunnel hull often? If so what size boat. Motor would you recommend for the Cahaba River between Centerville and heiberger?
Any ideas or recommendations for things that are a must have on a small river type boat that I may not be thi king of?

Never been on the Cahaba,but fish rivers in NW Florida.14-16ft stick-steer is hard to beat down there…

Post a pic when you buy one. I hunt Very close to you

I did a good bit of research into it a few years back and decided I just didn't have enough good river water available to justify a special boat. If I lived where you do, I might have decided differently. I would want a 16 to 17' boat with probably a 60 HP motor. A 60 HP jet outboard is gonna run about like a 40 HP prop boat, or at least that is what they claimed.

If you were only gonna use it on that stretch of the Cahaba, a flat bottom would likely work as well as a tunnel hull. A different hull style would be more versatile for other places, but a flat bottom would be great on the Cahaba. There's not any rough water and nothing is better than a flat bottom in shallow water.

I was certainly going with stick steering, and a power pedestal on the front. A bass style boat would work,; the stick is just my preference, especially for a river boat. I had talked to these folks about building me a boat, maybe this model:

https://www.xtremeboats.com/boats/river-skiff/

They have another model I was also considering, and was still trying to decide if I wanted jet or prop. I happened to find a used prop boat and bought it, so I dropped the jet boat idea. Good luck deciding!

I’ve ran them (my boat) from Alaska to Louisiana to Alabama and parts in between.

Leaves and grass do not mix well with grass.

I ran the Sportjon 20’ tunnel hull. Bad ass boat in the right water. Highly recommend a stomp grate or some method to easily clean the intake. Outboards are a pain in the ass, and you have to stop (come off step in skinny water) to clean